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April 2013

SIMPLE

ProjectB is proud to present the first solo exhibition in Italy by Canadian designer Philippe Malouin in the occasion of Milanís furniture fair in April 2013. Malouin has emerged as one of the strongest voices of todayís design with his simple and yet sophisticated products that always develop from an endless research on materials, forms and techniques.

The power of Malouinís objects and furniture relays on their permanence and durability: from a rug made of metal, to an all-in-one meeting room with hanging chairs; from a racking system in metal that includes the lighting, to a series of lamps inspired by classical shutters. The designer often begins his design process from an existing reality to develop new unprecedented projects.

For his solo show at ProjectB SIMPLE, Malouin is presenting two new series of objects - commissioned by Emanuele Bonomiís gallery, Slat and Type Cast Chairs - and an installation titled Pendulum that coherently represents his wide spirit of action. Pendulum is a reflection on gravity and by contrast a speculation on ephemera.

Malouinís research is based on the power of materials: for Functional Shapes, black MDF sheeting is cut and laminated and the resulting material is then turned into shape on a lathe. MDF is extensively hand-polished, transforming this extremely rudimentary material into something new, light and highly tactile. The simple geometric shapes are dictated by their function revealing a lamp, bookends and nestling boxes, presented for the first time in a pitch black finishing.The same color is to be found in the Type Cast Chairs, a series of sand casted sitting tools in iron or aluminum as a single component. The chair is extremely thin with no mechanical fixings and surprisingly resistant. The sand leaves its mark on each chair, transmitting something of its own history and making each one of them slightly different than the other.In Philippe Malouinís Slats pieces, standard timber slats are translated and repeated, forming a linear pattern, revealing a tabletop, rotated around an axis, forming a base and reflected for support. The resulting table gives the impression of a building, columns and ceiling. The same simple process is applied to benches that can stacked to become a bookshelf.

Malouinís objects and installations are new simple classics. As he expresses in his own words: ďSimple timber slats, positioned in the right rhythm and proportions create benches, a table, a library. A Simple chair, exhibiting modest geometry and simple boxes, bookends and a lamp composed of a readily available and humble material such as MDF, just cut and polished. A simple natural phenomenon, powering an installation. SIMPLE is an exercise in restraint. The statement is the absence of complication, nothing is hidden, nothing is faked, everything is displayed. A complicated needs to lead to a visually and tactually simple outcome. A traditional process leads to a well-balanced object. An unexpected discovery creates a deceptively simple installation. A traditional process is used to facilitate simplicity of shape and thicknessĒ (Philippe Malouin, 2012).